Trolley-tender.



No. 69|,263. Patented lan. 14,*- |902.. 'A.j W. HAM.v TROLLEY TENDER.

(Application led Apr. B, 1901.)

2 Sh'ets-sheet (No Model.)

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TCIFY No. salgas. Patnfed 1an. 14, |902;

A. W. HAM.

TROLLEY TENDER.l

(-Applicaton'led Apr. 8, 1901..) Y 4 (No Model.) z sheets-snm 2. Y

THE Ncnms PETERS co. Pnomqmo, wAsMmmcN o. c,

i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT W. HAM, OF LANSINGBURG, NEV YORK.

TROLLEY-TENDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,263, dated January 14, 1902. Application iiled April 8, 1901. Serial No. 54,7l77. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, ALBERT WV. HAM, a citizen of the United States, residing in Lansingburg, in the countyof Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Trolley-Tenders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to trolley-tenders for reeling in the slack of trolley-cords attached to the trolley-carrying poles of ordinary. construction which are used on cars in overheadwire electric tract-ion systems. The functions to be performed by the trolley-tender are as follows: to reel in slack of the trolley-cord as the trolley is depressed, as when the car goesunder bridge, and to pay out the trolley-cord as the trolley rises, as when the car comes from under a bridge, and also in case the trolley jumps from the wire to catch the cord immediately and prevent the trolleypole from swinging violently to a vertical position. The dangers and inconveniences which result from this accident are too well known to require description.

In the drawings hereto annexed '1 have shown one form in which my invention may be embodied, and therein- Figure l is a front View of my improved trolley-tender; Fig. 2, a vertical transverse section; Fig. 3, a side view, and Fig. 4 a sectional elevation on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2 looking from the back side.

The trolley-tender is secured to a convenient place on the car, preferably to the rear dashboard just above the usual place for the dashboard-lantern. The mode of attachment shown in Fig. 1 is by a blade E, which is secured to the dashboard at e and odset slightly at e, so that by means of a slot in the rear part of the tender-case,'presently to be described, the trolley-tender may readily be slipped on and off the blade E. A notch e' in the free end of the blade E serves to retain a hook e2, which is attached to the tender-case by a chain e3. This hook keeps the trolley-tender in place on the blade E. The trolley-cord, or a exible chain or band which may be attached to the trolley-cord, enters the tender-case at the opening c3, Fig. 1, and winds around the spring-actuated reel R, which is mounted inside the case.

The tender-case is constructed as shown in Fig. 2. The shell is composed of a back plate A, flanged at ct, and a dished cover C, anged at c, the cover C fitting over the back-- plate flange ct, to which it is secured by screws c2.. The screws c2 pass through the flanges a and c into the base-plate B. At the sides of the tender-case the` flanges a and c are cut away at d' and c4, Fig. 3, so as to provide for the admission of the blade E, Fig. l. The

vbase-piate Bis provided with a broad transverse groove-b, which registers with the recesses a and c4, so that when the trolley-tender is assembled there is provided a slot or opening from side to=side for the blade E.

Secured to or cast integrally with the baseplate B there is the shoulder b and stem b2, which serve as side and pivot bearings, respectively, for the reel R. On the inside of the cover C there is formed the boss c,which acts as an opposite end bearing for the reel.

A washer b3 and screw b4 secure the several f named parts firmly in place. The reel R is made hollow, so as to contain the actuating-spring S. 'This spring iscoiled inside the reel and is secured at one end to the stem b2 and at the other to the inside of the drum r2. The side plates r fr form with the drum r2 an annular winding-space for the cord T. The spring S is properly set, the cord T wound on the reel R, and the tendercase secured to the dashboard of the car by means of the blade E. As the trolley rises and falls by reason vof changes in the elevation of the overhead wire the spring-actuated reel R pays out and winds up slack cord.

On the rear plate of the reel R there are xed a suitable numbersay three-of pins or screws r3,which project from the plate r'. On a stud b5, secured to the back plate B, there is mounted a freely-movable catch D, which is best shown in Fig.`4. The catch D in-the form of construction here shown is a lever provided with a hook d' at one end and a knocker d2 at the other. The stud b5 acts as a pivot for the catch. The knocker d2, Which in this embodiment of my invention is part of the catch D, normally projects into the path of the pins r3, which as they rotate with the reel keep hitting the knocker, and thereby agitate the catch D. The connection (in'this construction) between the knocker and the hook or catch serves to communicate the-impact of the actuators to the catch. The hook end d' of the catch D is heavier than the knocker end, so that normally the hook d is out of engagement with thereel, the normal winding and unwinding of the cordT'being insuiiiciently rapid to cause the pins r3, which are actuators for the catch D, to throw the hook d into' engaging position; but the instant the trolley-pole is suddenly released, as by the trolley jumping from the wire, the u.n.` usually rapid rotation of the reel R in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1,'causcs the catchsition. Thus the trolley-tender automatically resets itself. In reversing the direction of movement ofthe car the conductor merely lifts the hook c2 out of the notch e', Fig. l, pulls the trolley ed the wire, takes the tro1 ley-tender 0E the blade E, and then putsthe apparatus on the other dashboard, which is similarly provided with an attaching-blade E.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a trolley-tender, the combination of a spring-actuated reel, a pivoted catch-lever mounted adjacent to the reel,havinga weighted end with a hook thereon, and a light end normally-in the path of catch-knockers, the catch-knockers, secured to the reel, whereby, when the reel is rotated at unusual speed the lheavyend of the catch-lever is knocked to a position of engagement with a catch-knocker.

2. In a trolley-tender, the combination of a spring-actuated reel, a pivoted catch-lever mounted adjacent to the reel with one end provided with a hook and the other normally inthe path of `catclrknockers, the catch'- knockers secured to the reel, andv so spaced with relation to the length ofthe catch-lever that the same knocker which im pels the catch into'irel-s'to'ppiug position is intercepted by the hook.

Signed by me at Troy, New York, this 5th day of April, 1901.

ALBERT W. HAM.

Witnesses: l

WM. C. FEATHERS, H. C. LoNGsrAFF. 

